


The Night Sky

by hiraeth



Category: Original Work
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 07:36:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12930573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiraeth/pseuds/hiraeth
Summary: Back at it again. I saw a list of world-building questions, as well as a suggestion that each one be answered with an essay-length response. That got me excited. I wrote this and gave it a single read-through afterwards to edit, but I'm not very good at writing so I apologize for the poor quality.This is a drabble exploring the topic of the night sky in relation to my story, which is actually a comic. Who's here? Nicolas and Orion, you guessed it.





	The Night Sky

The crash of ocean waves is the only sound for miles. Water pulls back like fingers dragging through eroded bones and shale, rearing up to push back again against rocks, and a log is caught undertow, unable to escape.

Inside the broken temple are small worshipers curled up or stretched out in slumber, hiding bruises under their blankets and tucking thoughts and dreams behind their eyelids. The walls between each cell are too thick for anyone to hear each other, and those who do not sleep alone do not speak to one another. The only exception to this is Nicolas, who feels lost in this isolated place of worship. The driftwood is pulled just out of reach of the shoreline. 

In his anxiousness Nicolas’ tongue is like a pair of restless legs. Words tumble out of his mouth into the stale, empty air. The cell is completely dark. During the rare occasion he opens his eyes, they strain so hard to seek out light that he feels bad for them. He keeps them closed while he tells his cellmate a story about one of his first nights at sea. It is reimagined with perfect clarity. Nicolas struggles to create this mental image in the dark for someone else, but he has hours before him.

\---

Feiyun was crying again. He had begged the captain and crew to return him to his family so many times that they locked him down in storage with barrels of foodstuffs and sacks of grain. Someone who was missing more teeth than they still had in their mouth suggested throwing Feiyun overboard. He wished they would, so he could try to swim back home. His mind kept returning to the faces of his parents and siblings as he was carried away on the broad shoulder of a raider. The fishing nets his parents had been teaching him how to use - the ones he had tried to cut up in frustration and petulance - watched him as well from the work table on the front porch.

About a month ago, a young villager named Sian had died when he was caught in a bad storm. His boat had capsized and he was unable to swim to shore. At least, that was what everyone in the village suspected. Feiyun had nightmares following the news; they were a mix of watching Sian drown, and being in his place. Feiyun had refused learning anything more about fishing. Vows of running away were spat out like threats. Feiyun did not want to die in open water, from a fishing accident. He told his parents so, and they handed him a line.

The nets watched him impassively while he screamed and cried in fear. The thick fingers of the raider dug into his flesh, and their shoulder dug into his stomach. Even days after, he could not remember if his family had tried to help. Their eyes on him were all he could recall, and the moment felt as though it existed for an eternity. Even now, it felt like it was still happening. Feiyun imagined that if he thought hard enough, he could change what had happened.

Footsteps descending the stairs had him tensing, curling up more tightly than he already was.

“Ey!” called a voice, and he flinched. The sound of footsteps grew nearer until they stopped where he was hiding behind a tall stack of barrels. A toe nudged him roughly. “Get up. You’re on night watch with Theo.”

He shivered and tears spilled out of his eyes. He didn’t think there were any left in him for all that he had cried since his capture. He didn’t want to move, or to acknowledge anyone aboard the ship, but he could hear the scurry of rats nearby. He had been bitten multiple times the past few nights. It disgusted him, and he was afraid of it happening again. When he got up, he got a glimpse of the man who had come to get him. It was Degan, the quartermaster. His eyes displayed appraisal. He led the way out onto the deck.

“Theo’s in the nest. Renee is probably somewhere around the quarterdeck. You stay here towards the bow and get a good look around. Figure out where things are. Try to see the horizon. We want you to start getting used to seeing in the dark. If you feel like jumping ship, midway is the best place to do it.”

When Degan returned to his quarters, Feiyun looked about himself. He walked to the port side, hands gripping the wooden rail. The water below was black; waves out in the sea proper were unfathomably large, as though the water were an entirely different entity to the bay he grew up in. It seemed sentient. It wanted to devour. Feiyun backed away when he heard a sound from above. It was Theo, clearing their throat. Feiyun looked up at the nest, but was immediately taken by the sight behind the lookout. Accompanying the sliver of moon was a body of stars, countless and eternal. Swaths of purple and blue were illuminated by millions of lights, and bodies so large they could only be infant suns. The night sky shined like sunlight glittering off water. If Feiyun were to reach out, he felt certain he could capture them in his hands, and they would run through his fingers like sand.

At dawn crew members found the new boy on deck flat on his back - alive, but with a faraway look in his eyes.

\---

“That is not true,” Orion said. It was the first time they had ever broken the rule of speaking to another during rest hours.

“It is,” Nicolas said. His eyes were open again now, and spots danced in his vision. His eyes had begun to water from the strain, from the memories. He pretended what he saw in that moment were the stars in his memory.

“You make a mockery of yourself and the gods.”

“And what about you? You’re breaking your favorite rule.”

His question was met with silence. Nicolas could just imagine some sharp rebuttal burning within his cellmate. But time carried on, and eventually he heard Orion’s soft snoring.

Claustrophobia crept upon him again. The utter blackness of the cell felt heavy and suffocating.  
When Nicolas closed his eyes against the darkness, he felt safe. Less alone. In his mind he was young again, Feiyun taken by pirates, and captured by stars.


End file.
